I became the Counterpart of the Winner in a Period Novel

Chapter 139: Chapter 136: Big Brother Becomes a Role Model

The old house quieted down temporarily because of Jiang Beiyang’s matter.

Meanwhile, things were bustling over at the third house.

The blueprints modified by Yan Jinzhi were indeed more refined, making the actual construction much simpler and more efficient.

On the first day of work, Aunt Jiao tied a red ribbon around the handle of a shovel and asked Jiao Can to buy a string of firecrackers to set off.

Symbolically, Jiang Jian Country drove the shovel into the ground to officially break ground.

Yan Jinzhi brought in bulldozers and rollers, and within half a day, the site was leveled. The bricks needed for construction were still arranged by Yan Jinzhi, with large trucks hauling ten loads.

Jiang Jian Country also enlisted the help of the previous mason master through his granduncle, Xing Zong and his son Xing Jiyuan.

Twenty-four doors, resembling a circular kiln but not quite. Master Xing Zong had spent most of his life in this work and had previously helped construct ancient porcelain kilns. Based on his experience, some places were slightly adjusted and improved further.

However, they encountered significant issues while laying the roasting road. Jiang Mingyue, the father and son duo, and several young villagers repeatedly tried to correct it but couldn’t get it right until Yan Jinzhi came down from Wuyun Mountain and identified their problem. This Engineer Yan deftly picked up the tools with his fair hands and completed the task in ten minutes, which had stumped them for three days.

Sometimes you have to admit, some people are just extraordinarily gifted. Others can’t learn, no matter how hard they try.

Next was the kiln doors, which took the most time and effort. By the time all twenty-four kiln doors were finished, it had rained several times, and every time it rained, it was sheer chaos at their construction site.

During the first rain, they hadn’t prepared any covering plastic, so all the prepared lime was washed away and ruined. With experience, Aunt Jiao borrowed plastic sheets accumulated by many families in the village and covered the materials that couldn’t get wet whenever it looked like rain.

Once the coal input holes, main flue, smoke damper, and fan were all completed, they spent another three days making repairs before the brick factory was officially built.

During this time, Jiang Jian Country also organized a group of strong laborers to dig channels, making future water usage for the brick factory much more convenient. As for the coal dust needed for the kilns, it was acquired through the granduncle’s connections and pre-ordered, to be delivered on time, costing twenty yuan per ton.

Then came the hiring process, initially planning to recruit twenty workers.

Prioritizing young and strong workers, with a limit of one per household.

Jiang Mingyue referred to the wage data of other brick factories provided by Yan Jinzhi and initially set the average wage at fifteen yuan per month. At this wage, some families even fought over who should go from their household, which she hadn’t anticipated.

Even the third sister secretly asked her if she could also sign up.

Of course, she could. They didn’t limit by gender, though it would be tough for women, and Jiang Mingyue couldn’t bear for her to endure hardship.

Fifteen yuan? One jar of her fruit wine sold for fifty yuan!

During the drying period, the eldest brother had already finalized the selection of workers with the leadership team.

In addition to these twenty people, they also needed to include skilled workers, such as the masons Xing Zong and his son. The pair would stay at the brick factory, responsible for temperature control, including coal feeding, preheating, and cooling, of course, they would train Jiao Longhe to take over in case the father and son duo decided to quit, not that they hoped for that to happen.

Then there were two people responsible for security at the brick factory. Additionally, Master Wu and his son-in-law were invited to make enough brick molds—essentially molds for shaping unfired bricks—and a quantity of steel wire bows. Yan Jinzhi helped procure a batch of labor protection gloves and ordered a batch of brick-moving tongs from the steel plant, which could pick up five bricks at once; these were all necessary expenses.